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Darren Criss
Darren Criss is a 24-year old singer, songwriter and actor from San Francisco, California. He is best known for playing Harry Potter in the fanmade hit musical A Very Potter Musical. He currently plays the character of Blaine Anderson on Glee, an openly gay student at Dalton Academy. Early life and education Originally from San Francisco, California, Darren Everett Criss is half-Filipino (his mother's side) and half-Irish (his father's side). He attended the Stuart Hall for Boys for his primary education and St. Ignatius College Preparatory for his secondary education. He went on to the University of Michigan and graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance and Acting. He plays the guitar, piano, cello, violin, mandolin, and drums. He has an older brother, Chuck Criss, who is part of the indie rock band Freelance Whales. Career That Media Show Darren was the original host of That Media Show, a Rochester short-form web series which discussed Hollywood, filmmaking and visual effects (early episodes are available on iTunes). StarKid Productions Criss is a major actor in the theater production group Team Starkid , formed by musical theatre students at the University of Michigan. His most popular role with Starkid was Harry Potter in both A Very Potter Musical (which went viral in the summer of 2009) and A Very Potter Sequel (which premiered in May 2010). He is credited with writing half of the songs in A Very Potter Musical and all of the songs in A Very Potter Sequel. The popularity of the musical gained Darren many fans within the Harry Potter fandom.thumb|right|250px|Darren in a very potter musical In the fall of 2009, Starkid created an original musical entitled Me and My Dick (for which Darren is credited with writing a few of the songs). He was originally cast as one of the main protagonists, Dick, but had to turn down the role because of his commitment to Eastwick. Joe Walker was chosen as his replacement. Darren has contributed to the music for StarKid's latest production, Starship, which is about "a far off world inhabited by a race of giant alien insects" and Bug, who "has never quite fit into bug-society and inside the pus-vesicles that serve as his heart longs for something more." This show was performed live from February 11 to the 23 at the Hoover-Leppen Theatre in Chicago. Music His music career includes his first self-produced EP "Human", which was released during the summer of 2010, and includes five songs, entitled, "Human", "Jealousy", "Not Alone", "Sami" and "Don't You". He started plans for a full-lengthed album before he was hired for Glee, but still has plans to complete a full album in the near future. He has written several other original songs, and performs regularly at various venues in Los Angeles. He is also featured in Charlene Kaye's new song "Dress and Tie". Television Darren played Josh Burton, a minor recurring character and possible love interest for Mia, on ABC's short-lived drama, Eastwick. He also appeared on an episode of Cold Case, "Free Love" as the '69 version of Reuben Harris. Life of Leopold Bonar Darren Criss uses his voice for the Funny Or Die sensation Life Of Leopold. He is the voice of the title character Leopold Bonar. The pilot and Parts 1 through 5 have been released so far. Life of Leopold Glee Criss auditioned for Glee a couple of times, including an audition for Finn (with a cover of The Little Mermaid's "Part of Your World"), before landing the character of Blaine, a student at a rival school. Blaine is an "out-and-proud student" and serves as a mentor to Kurt as he struggles through being bullied at McKinley. It was rumored his character would be a love interest for Kurt Hummel, and this has recently become fact in the episode "Original Song" when Kurt and Blaine began a relationship. Glee creator Ryan Murphy stated, "Darren has a major, major arc... He sort of becomes Kurt's mentor and then maybe love-he had to leave his own school because of bullying and goes to an all-boys academy and finds acceptance because that school has a no-bullying, zero-tolerance policy. Kurt really admires and respects Blaine. He plays someone who's one year older than Chris' character, so he's the old pro." Although throughout the episodes he has been recognised as a Junior in High School, the same year as Kurt, and is appearing in Season 3 as a Senior along with the rest of the original Cast. Criss has recently signed a deal to appear as a series regular on Glee for the remainder of season 2 and the entirety of season 3. Source Darren's first song on Glee ''(which was arranged and backed by Tufts University's Beelzebubs), "Teenage Dream", hit number 1 on the Billboard charts, selling 214,000 singles in its first week. It is the first time a ''Glee track has reached the #1 spot, and was the fastest selling Glee track to date. The show's rendition of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" landed at #2 last May when it sold 177,000 copies. Source Many of his other songs sung in later episodes also reached the top ten on iTunes. Websites *A Very Potter Musical Act I Part I *Darren's youtube page *Team Starkid's Official Page *Darren Criss's Official Page Videos thumb|250px|right|Teenage Dream livethumb|250px|left|"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" thumb|right|250px|"Belle" Cover thumb|250px|left|Darren singing Teenage Dream for US magazine Interviews thumb|275px|right|At the Trevor Project thumb|275px|left|Darren at the Grove thumb|275px|right|GLEE Photo-shoot EWthumb|275px|left|Yong Chavez Interviews Darren Criss thumb|left|275px Gallery 6.png Tumblr lghrrg077S1qeogas.jpg Tumblr lgkz5acOQP1qd53kgo1 500.jpg 028.jpg DarrenCriss1.jpg 63461946aelora213201173.jpg 5238068612 302c406b1d.jpg 2me7ss3.jpg.png Darren1.jpg 00013.jpg DCGlee-263R-3.jpg Darren criss gallery3.jpg 108086022.jpg Darrentongue.jpg 028.jpg Zzz.jpg 32384e.jpg 023637190.jpg 5151140308 32f01e63f3 z.jpg Screen shot 2010-07-26 at 11.13.07 AM.png|linktext=Darren Criss 105.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss tumblr_levhh12kia1qagqn9o1_1280.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss tumblr_lgm6ac4DXy1qclq1no1_400.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss 24Darren.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss 69glqa.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss Darren Criss2.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss Darren Criss3.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss Darren Criss4.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss rcIY6.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss 69350_833418.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss s640x480.jpeg|linktext=Darren Criss s640x480n.jpeg|linktext=Darren Criss tumblr_lgho7wjkW31qb74s3o1_400.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss 5Darren.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss 15yxbu8.jpg.png|linktext=Darren Criss tumblr_lh6gi3vOn41qdx234o1_400.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss tumblr_lh77lf8NPK1qauecro1_400.png|linktext=Darren Criss tumblr_lf6rxwheCX1qzl9k5o1_500.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss 6a00e54fb7301c88340147e23cecb6970b.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss 6a00e54fb7301c88340147e23cea02970b.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss tumblr_legsn2IAlk1qehni3o1_1280.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss 63738818aelora228201180.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss 63711981aelora227201153.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss Screen shot 2010-11-16 at 10.21.48 AM.png|linktext=Darren Criss tumblr_lghrliLfUz1qd53kgo1_500.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss 03-3.png|linktext=Darren Criss darrencriss3.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss x2_4ed6201.jpeg|Darren and Charice behind the scenes|linktext=Darren Criss tumblr_li7ic1pnvm1qehni3o1_500.jpg|At Paleyfest tumblr_li6x1oaeiQ1qafewko1_500.jpg|At Paleyfest|linktext=Darren Criss K0YJh.png vLKoR.png tumblr_lir300C37C1qegfeco1_1280.png|Darren's hands|linktext=Darren Criss tumblr_lir3c4Yuaj1qegfeco1_1280.png|linktext=Darren Criss tumblr_lj5kerleDx1qfa8r3o1_1280.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss tumblr_lj5ka8yXVY1qfa8r3o1_500.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss tumblr_lj5ohkzCUN1qi4s8uo1_400.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss tumblr_lj5nvaPgip1qd53kgo1_400.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss tumblr_lj5oihDp5R1qgu1tvo1_400.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss tumblr_lj72mnafla1qddswgo1_400.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss Darren-criss-yearbook-435x580.jpg|High School Photo|linktext=Darren Criss 8pdHJ.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss XDKDW.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss 9dCu2.jpg|linktext=Darren Criss darren-criss-grove-performance-11232010-05-430x645.jpg tumblr_ldt4nxIRdW1qd2377o1_500.png|Yearbook Category:Actors